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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 2008)
Page 8 Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, February 27, 2008 GP Fire/Rescue gains $110,700 for new radio gear A $110,700 grant from the Federal Emergency Man- agement Agency (FEMA) to help upgrade radios for the Fire/Rescue Division has been received by the Grants Pass Dept. of Public Safety. The funding will replace older hand-held and mobile radios that are a mix of manu- facturers and types. The new radios will be compliant with federal regulations requiring public safety agencies to switch to narrow-band fre- quencies by 2013. Current radios used by the firefighters are not adaptable to the new standard. Jackson County fire agencies, and Oregon Dept. of Forestry in Josephine County, already have switched to radios that meet the new standard. Cleaning up Josephine County, by making it the most ‘drug- free, alcohol-inhibited free county in the country’ is the goal of Wilderville resident Dave Lommel. He met Friday, Feb. 22 at Wild River Brewing & Pizza Co. in Cave Junction with some 15 Illinois Valley church leaders and others. County officials stand ready to help attain the goal once a core group of around 60 is formed. The grass-roots effort will need help from churches, civic and social groups, schools and public agencies, Lommel believes. Phone him at 479-7011 or 761-0425; or use lom- mel1@earthlink.net. (Photo by Illinois Valley News) An income deficit of more than $51,000 is facing Illinois Valley Fire District (IVFD) because property taxes are not being paid by the citizenry. IVFD directors and staff have been advised of the situation, and steps are being taken to reduce costs, said Robin Paulson, executive administrator. Although the taxes could be paid later this year, Paulson is anticipating a shortfall just to be ready. Besides looking for a reduction in insurance costs through a different carrier, she said that IVFD will send no more personnel to confer- ences, unless they can obtain a scholarship. Additionally, vehicle repairs are being curtailed with the family and pets? Do you know how they will re- spond to the sound? Do you know where they will go? People and pets die in fires because they don’t know the house is on fire. Not all children hear smoke detectors -- do yours? Do you have a fire extin- guisher in your home? If you need help with the proper placement of smoke detectors and extinguishers, or have any question about being fire safe phone IVFD at 592-2225. Little Elm excavation continuing (Continued from page 1) tained, and the county hasn’t done anything about it.” John Renz, a representa- tive of the Community Ser- vices Division of the Oregon Dept. of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD), stated that in size, volume and time frame during which the material was removed, the Little Elm excavation “exceeds” the state and county definitions of mining. However, with Commis- sioner Jim Raffenburg absent, Chairman Dave Toler said that the board did not have a quorum to revoke a board- approved land-use compati- bility statement or to direct county Planning Director Michael Snyder to issue a letter requiring that Barlow cease mining operations on the pond. Ellis noted, with Cope- land/Barlow’s legal represen- tative Jim Dole nodding in agreement, that issuing such a letter would trigger land-use actions and possible appeals hearings on both sides. “I do not want to go in that direction, it will cost money and will heat things up even more,” Ellis said. “I would like to see the discus- sion brought back down to the original county authoriza- Love is a Beautiful Thing! tion to do the 3-acre pond excavation on Little Elm as a farm use.” Without at least two commissioners deciding to revoke the compatibility statement, the permit is still in order, Toler indicated. “That’s my understand- ing; that’s the status quo, and unless we have a majority of the board to change that status quo, that’s where we are,” said Toler. “I continue to appreciate the concerns of Copeland and the need to have aggregate out there,” Toler stated. “I continue to have a lot of pro- cedural concerns about it, but I’m just one commissioner, and we are a board.” Central Point resident Dalton Strauss, self-described “visionary” who has been managing Little Elm for the past five years, stated that the pond is needed to convert the hay-growing operation from flood to sprinkler irrigation. Strauss stated that revenue from the material removed from the pond had been “put into a fund, for (stream) bank restoration.” Another neighbor testi- fied to “good stewardship” practices undertaken at Little Elm, but Toler noted that stewardship wasn’t an issue. “In my mind the 3.19- acre pond does have enough aggregate being removed that it does need to go through the mining permit process,” Toler said. “I don’t think this means at all that mining should not occur, I’m just suggesting that it should go through the process. “Currently we have a land-use compatibility state- ment permitting that pond, and at this time we have no action in front of the board to change it,” Toler concluded. Saturday, March 15 6:30 p.m. at H.D. PATTON JR C O N S T 541 • R U C T 476-2127 I O N Lic #39671 Avoiding unintended pregnancy is possible. For more information, call the Pregnancy Center 319 Caves Hwy. 592-6058 pregnancycenteriv.org tive tone to notify emergency scene commanders and dis- patchers in the event of a fire- fighter becoming disoriented or trapped. These new radios will meet the needs of the department as Grants Pass continues to expand its boundaries,” Pike explained. The Aid to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program is ad- ministered by the Dept. of Homeland Security through FEMA. AFG was established a number of years ago by Congress to fund fire-fighting equipment, health and safety programs and educational programs in fire agencies across the nation. IVFD looking to save money Smoke detectors save lives Do you have smoke de- tectors in your home? When is the last time you checked the batteries? Did you take one out because it was beeping? That is telling you that you need a new battery, said Illinois Val- ley Fire District (IVFD). How much are the lives of you and your loved ones worth? Smoke detectors do save lives because when work- ing properly they can provide an early warning that smoke is in the house, noted IVFD. Do you have fire drills The total cost of the com- munications grant programs is $123,000. The grant will provide $110,700; and the department’s matching por- tion is $12,300. This will pro- vide for 20 hand-held and seven mobile radios plus a radio repeater to enhance reception and transmission of emergency radio traffic. “This much-needed up- grade will allow firefighter radio transmissions to be clearly heard in all of the city as well as the Urban Growth Area,” said Deputy Chief Brian Pike. “For years the national fire service has cited poor radio reception as a con- tributor to numerous fire fa- talities and injuries. “One feature of the new hand-held radios is a ‘May Day’ button that has a distinc- R EACH - U p , S TAND - UP , F LY - UP ! where possible. She also noted, “We are in compliance when compar- ing our spending to our 2007- 08 fiscal budget, with excep- tion of a couple of specific departments due to unfore- seen repairs. “It’ll be a couple of months before we know the exact effect,” said Paulson of the reduction in income due to property taxes going un- paid. “We will continue to do what we can with the money we have, but in a worst case we could be looking at em- ployee lay-offs.” She said that lay-offs would be a last resort, and that IVFD leadership is stay- ing optimistic about the situa- tion being remedied. “We are stretching our available dollars” to continue to provide emergency ser- vices, she said. Concrete Remodel New Construction 592-6609 CCB 174891 Helping Hands Day Care Limited openings for all ages 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays Now accepting DHS Day Care Assistance Contact Cindy at 592-4923 or Helpinghandsdaycare@gmail.com Two seats open on planning unit One voting seat and one non-voting alternate position are open on the Josephine County Rural Area Planning Commission. Applications will be ac- cepted until March 17 or until the positions are filled. Applications are avail- able at the county commis- sion office in the courthouse in Grants Pass, or visit www.co.josephine.or.us. Serving the Illinois Valley since 1979 Representing: Auto Home Business Life Health Motorcycles Bonds Boats 592-2176 S a fe co Met-Life Pr ogr e ssive AIG Viking Dairyland or 800-500-5635
